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Energy supplier has went bust


hmfcbilly

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Hi folks, I found out via an email yesterday from money-saving expert cheap energy club that my current energy supplier (tonik energy) stopped operating 6th October.  I then went to log in to my account to see what previous meter reads were and what my credit balance was exactly but I was unable to do so . The website basically has a statement saying Scottish Power will be taking over their customer base but I was unable to log in to my account.  I know for a fact that I was about £200 in credit from checking last month so my question is have any of you been through a similar experience and did you get your credit balance OK? The statement did say OFGEM will ensure the new supplier refunds the credit balance but I'm unsure how long that is likely to take so if anyone knows that would be great. Finally, I've deleted Tonik Direct Debit as it was due to debit my account in 3 days and I intend to sign up to a new supplier myself (have looked at Scottish Power tariffs and there are cheaper 'big 6' options). Would it be advisable to wait until Scottish Power get in touch first to save any confusion? Obviously its not a simple change of supplier like before. Bit gutted as I've used Tonik for a few years and always found their system and site accurate and good value too. Seems even the 'bigger' smaller players are not safe 😔

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24 minutes ago, jonesy said:

Good luck with SP, that's all I can add. Keep records of absolutely everything (communication, reads, etc). They don't respond to emails very well, but do to facebook messages. I had to set up a facebook account just to get some customer service out of them.

I don't use Facebook either. Hopefully I can get my credit balance back and sort out another supplier elsewhere. I've taken my meter readings this morning. Normally I wouldn't let a credit balance build up to over £200 but my deal was meant to expire May 21 so I thought best leave it to cover the increased bills through the winter. Didnt think there was any risk as I'd used Tonik for several years without any issues at all. 

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26 minutes ago, jonesy said:

Good luck with SP, that's all I can add. Keep records of absolutely everything (communication, reads, etc). They don't respond to emails very well, but do to facebook messages. I had to set up a facebook account just to get some customer service out of them.

I tend to find Twitter is good for a moan at companies. They tend to reply to you pronto if you've posted a public tweet.

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Update on my original post....just called the Scottish Power dedicated line for Tonik Energy customers. Only waited around 10mins before my call was answered and the operator seemed relatively on the ball with the situation. She took some meter readings and I was able to give her my Tonik account number from an old email I had at sign up. The only thing that concerned me was her insistence that they would pass meter readings to Tonik who, in turn, would deduct final bill from my credit balance and Tonik would return the difference directly to me. I told her that is contradictory to the message on OFGEM's website as it clearly states the new supplier will return any credit balance to the customer.  She was adamant that her version is how it would play out though so I guess time will tell!  My main point of this thread was to ask if anyone had experienced their energy supplier ceasing to trade how did you find the process afterwards?  Also, if you were in credit with the ceased supplier, did you get back the amount you were expecting and what were the timescales involved?? If anyone can answer those questions it would be much appreciated. Cheers

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53 minutes ago, hughesie27 said:

Get away from SP ASAP.

 

Indeed, the worst company on earth as far as I'm concerned.

If Scottish Power were the only energy company, I'd use candles.

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1 hour ago, hmfcbilly said:

 

34 minutes ago, Jambo-Jimbo said:

 

Indeed, the worst company on earth as far as I'm concerned.

If Scottish Power were the only energy company, I'd use candles.

Thats about 3 folk who've told me to stay away from Scottish power so safe to say ill be moving once all this is sorted out so thanks for feedback on SP folks. As stated before though, the main point of this thread was to just really ask if anyone had experienced their energy supplier ceasing to trade and how did you find the process afterwards?  Also, if you were in credit with the ceased supplier, did you get back the amount you were expecting and what were the timescales involved?? If anyone can answer those questions it would be much appreciated. Cheers I'm guessing most folk who have read this thread so far have been fortunate enough to have never experienced their supplier going tits up!

 

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7 minutes ago, hmfcbilly said:

Cheers I'm guessing most folk who have read this thread so far have been fortunate enough to have never experienced their supplier going tits up!

 

Nope never experienced that, even although I'm not with the big 6 or 5 or whatever they are now, and hopefully I don't go through what your going through.

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11 minutes ago, Jambo-Jimbo said:

 

Nope never experienced that, even although I'm not with the big 6 or 5 or whatever they are now, and hopefully I don't go through what your going through.

Cheers Jimbo. Have to admit I was surprised when I found out last night. Always thought Tonik were pretty solid. Who knows whats going on with so many businesses these days, especiallly in the current climate.

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Fultons Right Leg
2 hours ago, hughesie27 said:

Get away from SP ASAP.


Word.

Get them to @*&! unless you want a life full of pain, disappointment, frustration and incompetence.

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Must admit, I've never heard of Tonik, and never even seen an advert for them anywhere online, and not even on TV or newspapers.

Energy companies are all robbing bar stewards, but I'd stick with one of the more well known ones over some of them.

I can, however, give you a £50 credit referral code for Bulb if you're looking to change :whistling: 

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Industry view of Tonik, source at bottom 

 

GROUNDHOG DAY FOR THE ENERGY SECTOR
 

By Adam John, reporter

Just days after Ofgem revealed the supplier to owe £8.7 million in renewables obligations (RO) and feed-in-tariff (FIT) payments, Tonik Energy was no more. The Birmingham-based retailer became the third and largest supplier to cease trading this year, with 130,000 customers being transferred to another provider.

It’s a familiar scenario; the regulator publishes its annual list of retailers who owe thousands, if not millions, in missed payments, and some on the list exit the market shortly thereafter. Autumn is fast-becoming the energy sector equivalent of the 90’s film Groundhog Day and Ofgem is coming under increasing criticism over its handling of the RO scheme.

“We see the same thing around this time every year, is this the definition of a functioning market?”, ponders one industry source.

Outwardly Tonik appeared to be doing the right things; securing major investment from Japanese firm Mitsui and using it to fund renewable technologies such as electric vehicles (EVs) through its tech arm, The Phoenix Works.

However, the company’s RO bill, its ‘average’ Trustpilot rating and abysmal Citizens Advice star ratings ranking were clear indicators that all might not have been well,

Following the investment of a combined £21 million from Mitsui, Tonik had envisioned supplying 500,000 customers by 2024 and aimed to be a near £1 billion revenue business by the following year. It appears that this investment ceased in the previous few months.

One observer tells us that Tonik built its business on being able to raise funds and was investing “ahead of the curve”, but that recent moves by the company to secure further investment suggests Mitsui was no longer continuing its involvement. The Japanese firm declined to comment when approached.

Further woes stemmed from its change of billing system at the start of the year. “They have fallen off a cliff with the switch from Ensek to Junifer”, says one source adding, “They’ve had really bad billing issues which has driven their complaints.”

The latest Citizens Advice star ratings table had Tonik ranked 40th out of 40 for its customer service, with the supplier being given an overall rating of 1.7. Meanwhile its ‘average’ rating on Trustpilot left a lot to be desired. A number of complaints on the site mention issues regarding credit balances and billing.

There is also the question of net liabilities. According to the latest results available on Companies House, the supplier had net current liabilities of an eyewatering £26 million as of 31 March 2019.

“Most of that will be customer credit balances and I imagine their credit balances are much higher now, much bigger than the RO”, says one source. This is another area of contention for some in the sector as credit balances are protected by an industry levy on gas and electricity networks, meaning a SoLR may choose not to cover credit balances themselves and adding further costs onto the rest of the sector.

Attention is now focused on who will become supplier of last resort to the 130,000 former Tonik customers. Following its recent acquisition of Robin Hood Energy’s customers, British Gas is believed to be a strong contender as is Octopus Energy, with the company’s Kraken platform continually hungry for more customer accounts.

In addition to British Gas and Octopus, one industry source says they believe Scottish Power and EDF will also be in the market for more customers.

Observers are keen to stress Tonik was “very forward thinking”, that it pushed the agenda and was trying to do positive things for the industry in terms of funding renewable technologies.

Ultimately however, all the signs pointed to a struggling supplier and this theme of Ofgem’s RO ‘naughty list’ being published followed by market exists is becoming all too familiar for the retail sector. No wonder there are those who are asking whether a new approach is needed.

For access to Utility Week's unrivalled content and to find out how Utility Week membership can build confidence in your team's decision making, speak to our membership team today.

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Wow. I'm with Tonik. First I've heard of this! I joined just over a year ago, having previously been with SP and now I'm being forced to rejoin them!

 

I plug in my meter reads 1st of every month and nothing untoward last time out. I've just gone to my login page and got what everyone else got ☹️

 

I've personally never had a problem with SP. I've had 2 separate spells with them and only left each time because they were too dear.

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If you are looking to get out of Scottish Power the. I’d recommend a company called Avro - they have been great for the last 2-3yrs. They keep it simple, 1 fixed tariff on offer.

 

I found their unit charge was competitive but their daily standing charge was a fair bit cheaper than some providers (14p per fuel compared to some charging 20-25p per day).

 

Good luck having to deal with refunds etc.

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We were on a DD with SP and they calculated that our usage was too high to get covered by the DD. So they placed a £200 charge on the account to be taken as our next bill to cover any extra we need to pay over the year. They never told us about this. The only way we found out was because our joint account sent us a text saying our account was going to go into overdraft because of it the following day. Managed to cancel it beforehand and we now just pay it off when they send a bill instead. Contract runs out in December.

Edited by hughesie27
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32 minutes ago, SwindonJambo said:

Wow. I'm with Tonik. First I've heard of this! I joined just over a year ago, having previously been with SP and now I'm being forced to rejoin them!

 

I plug in my meter reads 1st of every month and nothing untoward last time out. I've just gone to my login page and got what everyone else got ☹️

 

I've personally never had a problem with SP. I've had 2 separate spells with them and only left each time because they were too dear.

Yeah if I hadn't been signed up to money-saving experts cheap energy club I wouldn't have a clue this had happened. I was in a 2nd stint with Tonik, sandwiched in-between by utility point. I left utility point early as they were horrendous for me. I submitted meter reads pretty much on the day they requested them each month yet they still sent estimates out each month. Drove me nuts. Never had any issues with Tonik either time round so a bit gutted they've gone 

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29 minutes ago, Mysterion said:

If you are looking to get out of Scottish Power the. I’d recommend a company called Avro - they have been great for the last 2-3yrs. They keep it simple, 1 fixed tariff on offer.

 

I found their unit charge was competitive but their daily standing charge was a fair bit cheaper than some providers (14p per fuel compared to some charging 20-25p per day).

 

Good luck having to deal with refunds etc.

Cheers, will keep in mind once this is all sorted 

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49 minutes ago, Dirty Deeds said:

Industry view of Tonik, source at bottom 

 

GROUNDHOG DAY FOR THE ENERGY SECTOR
 

By Adam John, reporter

Just days after Ofgem revealed the supplier to owe £8.7 million in renewables obligations (RO) and feed-in-tariff (FIT) payments, Tonik Energy was no more. The Birmingham-based retailer became the third and largest supplier to cease trading this year, with 130,000 customers being transferred to another provider.

It’s a familiar scenario; the regulator publishes its annual list of retailers who owe thousands, if not millions, in missed payments, and some on the list exit the market shortly thereafter. Autumn is fast-becoming the energy sector equivalent of the 90’s film Groundhog Day and Ofgem is coming under increasing criticism over its handling of the RO scheme.

“We see the same thing around this time every year, is this the definition of a functioning market?”, ponders one industry source.

Outwardly Tonik appeared to be doing the right things; securing major investment from Japanese firm Mitsui and using it to fund renewable technologies such as electric vehicles (EVs) through its tech arm, The Phoenix Works.

However, the company’s RO bill, its ‘average’ Trustpilot rating and abysmal Citizens Advice star ratings ranking were clear indicators that all might not have been well,

Following the investment of a combined £21 million from Mitsui, Tonik had envisioned supplying 500,000 customers by 2024 and aimed to be a near £1 billion revenue business by the following year. It appears that this investment ceased in the previous few months.

One observer tells us that Tonik built its business on being able to raise funds and was investing “ahead of the curve”, but that recent moves by the company to secure further investment suggests Mitsui was no longer continuing its involvement. The Japanese firm declined to comment when approached.

Further woes stemmed from its change of billing system at the start of the year. “They have fallen off a cliff with the switch from Ensek to Junifer”, says one source adding, “They’ve had really bad billing issues which has driven their complaints.”

The latest Citizens Advice star ratings table had Tonik ranked 40th out of 40 for its customer service, with the supplier being given an overall rating of 1.7. Meanwhile its ‘average’ rating on Trustpilot left a lot to be desired. A number of complaints on the site mention issues regarding credit balances and billing.

There is also the question of net liabilities. According to the latest results available on Companies House, the supplier had net current liabilities of an eyewatering £26 million as of 31 March 2019.

“Most of that will be customer credit balances and I imagine their credit balances are much higher now, much bigger than the RO”, says one source. This is another area of contention for some in the sector as credit balances are protected by an industry levy on gas and electricity networks, meaning a SoLR may choose not to cover credit balances themselves and adding further costs onto the rest of the sector.

Attention is now focused on who will become supplier of last resort to the 130,000 former Tonik customers. Following its recent acquisition of Robin Hood Energy’s customers, British Gas is believed to be a strong contender as is Octopus Energy, with the company’s Kraken platform continually hungry for more customer accounts.

In addition to British Gas and Octopus, one industry source says they believe Scottish Power and EDF will also be in the market for more customers.

Observers are keen to stress Tonik was “very forward thinking”, that it pushed the agenda and was trying to do positive things for the industry in terms of funding renewable technologies.

Ultimately however, all the signs pointed to a struggling supplier and this theme of Ofgem’s RO ‘naughty list’ being published followed by market exists is becoming all too familiar for the retail sector. No wonder there are those who are asking whether a new approach is needed.

For access to Utility Week's unrivalled content and to find out how Utility Week membership can build confidence in your team's decision making, speak to our membership team today.

Cheers, decent read that. Seems they were trying to get  big quickly but reliant heavily on investment from Mitsui and, for whatever reason, that investment dried up. I honestly never had any issues with billing or contacting them but trust pilot is usually a good indicator about companies so plenty seemed to have had issues. I always try and phone places as soon as they open if I've any queries. Being a shift worker makes that a bit easier right enough!

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1 hour ago, tian447 said:

Must admit, I've never heard of Tonik, and never even seen an advert for them anywhere online, and not even on TV or newspapers.

Energy companies are all robbing bar stewards, but I'd stick with one of the more well known ones over some of them.

I can, however, give you a £50 credit referral code for Bulb if you're looking to change :whistling: 

Thanks tian. I'll bear that in mind and I'll give you a shout if I choose to go with them. OFGEM advice is to let your account transfer to the rescue supplier (in this case Scottish Power) to ensure credit accounts are refunded correctly. As someone is sitting on about £210 of my money I'll follow OFGEM's advice for now!

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4 minutes ago, hmfcbilly said:

Cheers, will keep in mind once this is all sorted 

 

Another shout for Bulb, the only problem I've had in the 3 years I've been with them, was when they fitted new 2nd generation smart meters and for some reason I didn't receive a bill for 3 months, contacted them, turned out someone hadn't ticked a box at their end, sorted there and then and then they gave me £30 credit for the inconvience of not being billed for 3 months...............no inconvience to me and £30 free energy.

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Samuel Camazzola

I've not experienced an energy company folding but can also vouch for Bulb. No issues in the years I've been with them. 

 

I was initially with First Utility (who became Shell) but their customer service was poor. 

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manaliveits105

I inherited Bulb with new house  - they have just increased charges - they are always trying to get me to increase payments which annoys me as I keep an eye on situation and send regular meter readings - they also send update just before your monthly payment has cleared which puts a worse spin on account. I am usually in credit but they want you to overpay to compensate for Winter whereas I dont think its going to be as high as they forecast . If not I can always make extra lump sums to bring inline however if they keep annoying me I will be offski

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19 hours ago, hughesie27 said:

We were on a DD with SP and they calculated that our usage was too high to get covered by the DD. So they placed a £200 charge on the account to be taken as our next bill to cover any extra we need to pay over the year. They never told us about this. The only way we found out was because our joint account sent us a text saying our account was going to go into overdraft because of it the following day. Managed to cancel it beforehand and we now just pay it off when they send a bill instead. Contract runs out in December.

You can switch suppliers without paying any exit fees as long as it's within 49 days of the end of your contract. I did that the last time I switched. That time must be coming up soon for you.

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jack D and coke

Nobody use Lookaftermybills? Really good. 
My supplier changes after every year or two but they do it all for you. Scan the market based on your meter readings and find deals for you. Saved me a decent bit and just removes the hassle of constantly on compare sites. 
I signed my old dear up for it and no surprise Scottish Power were absolutely robbing my folks. Saved them over £100 a month on energy bills. 

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20 hours ago, hmfcbilly said:

Thanks tian. I'll bear that in mind and I'll give you a shout if I choose to go with them. OFGEM advice is to let your account transfer to the rescue supplier (in this case Scottish Power) to ensure credit accounts are refunded correctly. As someone is sitting on about £210 of my money I'll follow OFGEM's advice for now!

Good luck @hmfcbilly - hope the transfer to SP goes well, and then you can look around.

 

On a similar topic, I'm with SP and  have a meter which has 3 readings - got an email yesterday  from the heating company who service my Thermaflow electric boiler saying that these types of meters are being phased out (to be replaced by smart meters). First I've heard of that - not had anything from SP at all about it.   Apparently they don't charge for doing the changeover - but  the wiring to the boiler has to be altered by a qualified heating engineer (at a hefty cost of course 🙄).

 

Anyone else got a 3-rate meter ?   If so, has anyone heard of a switch-over plan ?

 

Edit - purely for interest, the heating company has been researching electricity  suppliers tarriffs and is recommending Octopus, SO Energy and Outfox the Market   (never head of any of them !!)

 

 

Edited by Lone Striker
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2 hours ago, manaliveits105 said:

I inherited Bulb with new house  - they have just increased charges - they are always trying to get me to increase payments which annoys me as I keep an eye on situation and send regular meter readings - they also send update just before your monthly payment has cleared which puts a worse spin on account. I am usually in credit but they want you to overpay to compensate for Winter whereas I dont think its going to be as high as they forecast . If not I can always make extra lump sums to bring inline however if they keep annoying me I will be offski

Those fly bassas tried to con sse and us that we changed to them. The good thing tho, was we over paid by a grand. Nice we rebate. :D

Phoned them and told them to bolt. 

Edited by ri Alban
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Walter Payton
5 hours ago, jack D and coke said:

Nobody use Lookaftermybills? Really good. 
My supplier changes after every year or two but they do it all for you. Scan the market based on your meter readings and find deals for you. Saved me a decent bit and just removes the hassle of constantly on compare sites. 
I signed my old dear up for it and no surprise Scottish Power were absolutely robbing my folks. Saved them over £100 a month on energy bills. 

 

I use a similar company called Switchd who do a similar thing, but take it a step further. Not only do they scan for the best deal when your contract ends and automatically switch you to the best deal from all their suppliers, they'll also assess throughout your contract if there's any prices available that would save you more over the contract than the cost of any early exit penalty. 

Edited by Bring on the Future
cheeky wee sign up link!
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jack D and coke
13 minutes ago, Bring on the Future said:

 

I use a similar company called Switchd who do a similar thing, but take it a step further. Not only do they scan for the best deal when your contract ends and automatically switch you to the best deal from all their suppliers, they'll also assess throughout your contract if there's any prices available that would save you more over the contract than the cost of any early exit penalty. 

Yeah Lookaftermybills do the same bud. 
Pretty good👍🏼

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6 hours ago, Lemongrab said:

You can switch suppliers without paying any exit fees as long as it's within 49 days of the end of your contract. I did that the last time I switched. That time must be coming up soon for you.

 

5 hours ago, jack D and coke said:

Nobody use Lookaftermybills? Really good. 
My supplier changes after every year or two but they do it all for you. Scan the market based on your meter readings and find deals for you. Saved me a decent bit and just removes the hassle of constantly on compare sites. 
I signed my old dear up for it and no surprise Scottish Power were absolutely robbing my folks. Saved them over £100 a month on energy bills. 

 

32 minutes ago, Bring on the Future said:

 

I use a similar company called Switchd who do a similar thing, but take it a step further. Not only do they scan for the best deal when your contract ends and automatically switch you to the best deal from all their suppliers, they'll also assess throughout your contract if there's any prices available that would save you more over the contract than the cost of any early exit penalty. 

Good to know. Will have a look at these. How easy are smart meters to get installed? 

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jack D and coke
5 minutes ago, hughesie27 said:

 

 

Good to know. Will have a look at these. How easy are smart meters to get installed? 

Twice they’ve came to do mine at different places. First time my leccy meter was in the loft space and the guy wouldn’t go up 2 rungs of his ladder as he didn’t have someone with him and the second time at my current place the leccy meter is boxed in behind the front door and when he arrived he basically told me I’d need to take it all apart. So smash it to to bits so he could put them in😐I’d waited all day for the twat an all, I wasn’t doing that there and then and I haven’t bothered since. 
Not sure about now but had heard it was more difficult to switch suppliers with smart meters a year or so ago. Maybe not now though. 

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4 minutes ago, jack D and coke said:

Twice they’ve came to do mine at different places. First time my leccy meter was in the loft space and the guy wouldn’t go up 2 rungs of his ladder as he didn’t have someone with him and the second time at my current place the leccy meter is boxed in behind the front door and when he arrived he basically told me I’d need to take it all apart. So smash it to to bits so he could put them in😐I’d waited all day for the twat an all, I wasn’t doing that there and then and I haven’t bothered since. 
Not sure about now but had heard it was more difficult to switch suppliers with smart meters a year or so ago. Maybe not now though. 

I assumed they'd need a smart meter installed for those websites to track your usage? 

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jack D and coke
17 minutes ago, hughesie27 said:

I assumed they'd need a smart meter installed for those websites to track your usage? 

No I just do online meter reading every month. 

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Walter Payton
3 hours ago, hughesie27 said:

 

 

Good to know. Will have a look at these. How easy are smart meters to get installed? 

We moved to a new build house, already had smart meters 👍

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Doesn't answer your question but I've been with bulb (from a JKB recommendation) for a few years now. Found them good and prompt replies to emails any time Ive had to contact. Stress free as it should be.

 

Bonus £50 on sign up too using link (which you can even withdraw straight to bank). No contract either, leave when you want.

www.bulb.co.uk

 

*Oh and no smart meter required. I enter online. Personally wouldn't touch a smart meter. 

Edited by Alan_R
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22 hours ago, manaliveits105 said:

I inherited Bulb with new house  - they have just increased charges - they are always trying to get me to increase payments which annoys me as I keep an eye on situation and send regular meter readings - they also send update just before your monthly payment has cleared which puts a worse spin on account. I am usually in credit but they want you to overpay to compensate for Winter whereas I dont think its going to be as high as they forecast . If not I can always make extra lump sums to bring inline however if they keep annoying me I will be offski

This is a pet hate of mine. I often loose my composure with energy suppliers on the phone due to these shenanigans.

My gaff is insulated within an inch of its life and I fitted new double glazing and and external doors last year. Plus mostly everything electrical is LED or at least A+ rated. I know what I am going to use from month to month and so do they. Barstewards!

The government should do better in getting them telt as well. Another thing is I just moved from Scottish Gas to E-On about 6 weeks ago and I am still waiting on a refund from Scottish Gas for around £70.  Very slow to pay out.

Slow to pass on any savings and fast to hike the prices up when Trump opens his fat puss against Russia or whatever and the oil prices shoot up! "Advanced energy buying" my arse!

Swindling shitehawks!

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fabienleclerq

I've worked in the energy sector and Scottish Power are hands down the worst I've ever dealt with, I can only imagine how much they run rings around people who don't know what they are doing. 

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1 hour ago, hughesie27 said:

See Bulb are offering to pay your exit fees and give you a £75 voucher for the Samsung store if you sign up now.

I left Bulb a few months ago. When I started with them they were the cheapest, but not any more. That £75 voucher is less than half what I'll be saving having moved to Shell Energy. Fair enough if you've got exit charges to pay (but remember what I said above about no exit charges in last 49 days of a contract.).

Edited by Lemongrab
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2 hours ago, Lemongrab said:

I left Bulb a few months ago. When I started with them they were the cheapest, but not any more. That £75 voucher is less than half what I'll be saving having moved to Shell Energy. Fair enough if you've got exit charges to pay (but remember what I said above about no exit charges in last 49 days of a contract.).

Aye it wasn't really for me. We will be moving to switch or lookaftermybills 👍

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On 14/10/2020 at 08:42, Pans Jambo said:

This is a pet hate of mine. I often loose my composure with energy suppliers on the phone due to these shenanigans.

My gaff is insulated within an inch of its life and I fitted new double glazing and and external doors last year. Plus mostly everything electrical is LED or at least A+ rated. I know what I am going to use from month to month and so do they. Barstewards!

 

My place is the same. I leave the boiler at 19 degrees on the thermostat and it's not been on since March. It's bloody awful in the summer and barely gets under 30 indoors. Our leccy usage has risen as the Mrs has been home with the baby and is working from home but Bulb have completely overshot their uplift for the winter considering I work shifts and the heating won't be used much more than it was last winter. I'll be honest, I don't let it bother me. I'm quite happy for them to owe me money.

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My energy supplier went bust a year or two ago, canny mind the name, some NPO the scottish government were involved with, I was in debit by a fair way, took a while to sort out through Utilita who I'd been transferred to. Eventually got a bill for what I owed, the rates per kwh and standing charge were different to what Id been told by previous supplier, but I worked out I was actually slightly better off with the new rates so went with it!  But one to watch out for.  I was put straight onto a standard not very good rate with Utilita, so you likely want to get that sorted out sharpish or it soon costs a bit.

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Shanks said no
On 13/10/2020 at 17:41, jack D and coke said:

Twice they’ve came to do mine at different places. First time my leccy meter was in the loft space and the guy wouldn’t go up 2 rungs of his ladder as he didn’t have someone with him and the second time at my current place the leccy meter is boxed in behind the front door and when he arrived he basically told me I’d need to take it all apart. So smash it to to bits so he could put them in😐I’d waited all day for the twat an all, I wasn’t doing that there and then and I haven’t bothered since. 
Not sure about now but had heard it was more difficult to switch suppliers with smart meters a year or so ago. Maybe not now though. 

 

Similar experience. Bloke arrived to change it so I left my son to house sit and I headed out. I hadn't driven more than 100 yards down the street and my son was on the phone saying this jobsworth says he won't be able to change it as its 8' foot off the ground, high on hallway wall. I had explained to the bloke before i left that he could refit it at a lower level. Took 2 more bookings before the 2 man job took place.

 

Shortly afterwards I changed supplier and the smart meter was no longer compatible and back to traditional reads. Then got a bill for £2k for gas. Scottish Power hadn't given the correct read over for the new meter, they used the old one. I lost it repeatedly with EON until it was sorted out. What really bothered me was I was fine to fight it and knew I was in the right, someone with less savvy might have just paid the bill.

 

Like others have said I submit and record monthly meter reads.

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My enforced transfer from Tonik to Scottish Power is in progress. When asked to choose a tariff, I'm going to choose their no frills standard because their prices are woefully uncompetitive and I can leave without penalty and get cheaper elsewhere. 

 

My big concern is that nearly all the best tariffs require the fitting of a smartmeter and I've always shyed away from them them after reading all the horror stories about ott bonkers readings and bills.

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My mum been with SP for ever. Got a letter years ago saying sorry your leaving about 11/12 years ago as my dad was still here. They went to the office at Granton and got it sorted. Few years ago got another letter sorry you have left. I phoned them turned out some company had taken over the account 2 years before without letting her know. Took months to sort it out . 

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Here’s an update for those previously with Tonik as I was. They are still collecting Direct Debits from customers so log into your bank account ASAP and cancel yours. A further monthly payment was collected from my account yesterday. Whether I ever see it again is uncertain. I’ve just cancelled mine.

 

Tonik’s administrators have created a website so that customers can log into their old accounts and view all history held. I was about £100 in credit before yesterday’s DD unexpectedly went out.

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1 hour ago, SwindonJambo said:

Here’s an update for those previously with Tonik as I was. They are still collecting Direct Debits from customers so log into your bank account ASAP and cancel yours. A further monthly payment was collected from my account yesterday. Whether I ever see it again is uncertain. I’ve just cancelled mine.

 

Tonik’s administrators have created a website so that customers can log into their old accounts and view all history held. I was about £100 in credit before yesterday’s DD unexpectedly went out.

The bumf from scottish power said not to cancel your direct debit ( unsurprisingly ). Good they have a site to get your previous details. 

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8 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

The bumf from scottish power said not to cancel your direct debit ( unsurprisingly ). Good they have a site to get your previous details. 

I missed that. I've already given my bank details to SP for a new DD and had a login and temp password back from them. I was with them until just over a year ago and can see all my old account details at the point I left them. Nothing as to progress on my transfer back from Tonik though.

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12 minutes ago, SwindonJambo said:

I missed that. I've already given my bank details to SP for a new DD and had a login and temp password back from them. I was with them until just over a year ago and can see all my old account details at the point I left them. Nothing as to progress on my transfer back from Tonik though.

I gave them my details about a week ago but heard nothing yet. 

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3 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

I gave them my details about a week ago but heard nothing yet. 

Same. All I have is access to my old SP account. I hope that doesn't cause some sort of calamity. My credit balance with Tonik should last me a while.

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